Check out what is on Week 3!

Congratulations to our 6 International Scholarship Recipients!!

From left to right:
Munkhnast Amar, Viktoria Tereschenko, Sabrina Guining Liu, Cristina Mate, Jessica Yu-Hsueh Liu & Zhe Zhe Wu. 
Congratulations to all of you on your stellar academic performance and your community involvement!  Continued success to all of you!

Take advantage of all that is available to you and Get Involved!!

Join our Spelling Workshops on Mondays (weeks 3 and 4) to get tips on spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary building.  Come on out to our Competition: 3 Rounds, 3 Winners, 3 Prizes (weeks 3, 4 and 5) to try out your spelling and/or cheer on your peers!
Check the Schedules for details on days and times.
Also:  Check out SpellingCity.com--a great resource to help you practice vocabulary in context, build your own vocabulary lists for self-study and practice pronunciation and listening.  Words are used in sentences, and clearly spoken in natural English. 
Need help on getting started?  Check out these easy-to-follow videos on using all of the great features of Spelling City.

Also this week:  
Advising Information Sessions
Monday: (International Students)
Friday: (Domestic Students)

Supports and Services available free to you:

• Peer Leader Assistance, Volunteer and Events:  Rooms 311 & 332
• TLC (Tutoring Learning Centre):  Room 430A at 200 King St. East
• TESL Tutoring: Tues and Thurs, Room 330, 12pm
• PAL Centre Workshops and Assistance for students in levels 7 and above, Room B121, 200 King St. East

Speak to your Class Rep for more details and check out the links at the top of this blog.

Want to get real English Practice in a fun and interesting environment?  Join in our Activities or Volunteer Events.

 LEAD!!

Would you like to gain Leadership Practice? Speak to Maryana or Suzan about being a Volunteer or Event Captain for our various opportunities.

Connect and Get involved:  

Join our Facebook page community for updates on events and opportunities at GBC and in the GTA!

Websites to Check Out

Here are some recommended websites from your Peer Leaders:

• Tumble Books was specially designed in 2010 by TDSB for newcomer students. These E-books are classified into different levels which are K-2(kindergarten-2), k-3 and Grade 1-4.Although the Story Books are designed for children, they are really helpful for beginning to intermediate ESL learners as well.

To have access to Tumble books, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMEDB0128&R=EDB0128

2. Click on Access Online

3. On the Tumble Books website, click on Story Books or Read-along to see the books that are available to you.

•  TED Talks is excellent for intermediate to advanced listening and are great examples of powerful and effective speeches.  Check out the  following blog for lesson plans, activities and transcripts of popular TED Talks!   http://esltedtalks.blogspot.ca/  TED Talks are available to watch with or without subtitles.

• English Central is a great site to practice and improve your speaking fluency and pronunciation. Just register for a free account, and you can get immediate feedback on your pronunciation with their interactive web tool.  Plus, there are lots of engaging videos to help improve your listening and vocabulary.
• ESL Lab: a ton of listening resources for all levels.
• ESL Writing dot org:  Some great authentic listening practice and links to several writing websites.

Do you have any recommendations?  Share them with your GBC peers.  Send them along to dvangroo@georgebrown.ca

Week 6 Updates

Ongoing Supports Available for You:

 1.  Tutoring at the TLC (Tutoring Learning Centre): 
  Speaking and Writing Tutoring in C503 with Peer Tutors.  Check out their blog for more information. 

2.  Student Success workshops and 

Peer Leader assistance:   

Check this blog (http://www.eslatgbc.com/ for upcoming workshops and clubs, as well as info on study tips and events. 
Start your own study group and we'll support you!!
 Peer Leaders are available in D304A.  

Drop by Tues-Thurs 9-5 or after school MWF.

Workshops this week:

Four Workshops available for Speaking, Listening, Writing and Vocabulary Practice.  See below for details.

1.  Speak Up (levels 4-8) :  

Practice conversation and public speaking skills in a relaxed atmosphere and make new friends in the process.

When:  Wednesdays

Where:  D309

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm

2.  Listen Up Workshop 

(levels 5 and up)

A new workshop to help you practice listen skills and build your vocabulary by watching and discussing interesting programs and sitcoms. 

 When:  Tues and Thursdays

Where:  Tues D316 and Thurs D302

Time:  12-1:30pm

3.  Games Club

 Fun Opportunity to Practice your English and meet new friends.  Join the Games Club with Marcela to learn English and have fun at the same time.

When:  Thursdays

Where:  Peer Leader Office, D304 A

Time: 10:00am-1:00 pm

4.  Writing Study Group (levels 5 and up)
Practice Brainstorming, Outlining and effective writing skills.
When:  Thursdays

Where: D301

Time: 3pm

2 more weeks left for the VIDEO COMPETITION!!

Create a 2-3 minute video on the topic of Life in Toronto or at GBC.
Win an iPod Nano, Flip Camera or Movie Passes for 2!!   A very generous student, Babak Fadaee,has offered to help anyone with editing your video/photoslideshow.  Email Dorothy for details or if you have any questions.  dvangroo@georgebrown.ca

Deadline:  Friday, June 17th (end of Week 7)--note date change!

Drop off your video, email Dorothy or ask for our YouTube link to upload it yourself.

Stay in touch and  "LIKE" us on Facebook!! 
www.facebook.com/GBC.ESL

You can see a couple of examples of video entries from last year's contest!! 

Link to Check Out:

1.  Do you have a Apple iPhone, iPad or Android Device?  Then here's an app you'd definitely want to check out!!  SOUNDS Pronunciation App from MacMillan Education.


The free version includes Interactive Phonemic Charts for British English and American English. Tap to hear a sound, or tap and hold to hear the sound and an example word.
In the soon-to-come Paid Premium version  you’ll be able to look up, listen to and record words in the WORDLIST; PRACTISE your pronunciation skills; test yourself with the pronunciation QUIZZES; use the phonemic TYPEWRITER; and LEARN with Top Tips, and videos.

2.  No Smartphone?  No Problem!  

Lots of great sites available on the WWW.

Top Sites for Practice (click on the Site Name to be taken directly there--hit the back key on your browser to come back to the blog)

i).  English Central
ii).  SozoExchange
iii).  RachelsEnglish

3.  Some more details on last week's link:  www.lyricstraining.com

Learn English (and other languages) through Music Videos and Lyrics (click below).  Type as you listen and choose from beginning, intermediate and advanced levels.

Lyrics Training (www.lyricstraining.com)
According to Lifehacker training, "Lyrics Training is a really fun approach to helping you pick up a foreign language. Choose a YouTube-hosted music video and select one of three mastery levels; Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. As the video begins to play, the song's lyrics appear underneath with several words missing. Your job is to fill in the missing words as they're sung.
If you get stumped, the video stops playing until you can come up with the word, but don't take too long because the app keeps track of the time it takes you to fill in the blanks. Click the "Give Up!" button to see the words that elude you."  Click the help button for tips on how to use the site.
Comment here to let us know what you think.